Aubrey Gordon – activist, author, and teacher – talks to us about anti-fat bias and the way it manifests in employment disparities, our healthcare system, our dinner table conversations, and our parenting. She teaches us about “concern trolling” and other ways anti-fatness hides inside of our “do-gooding.” Sharing her personal experiences, Aubrey illuminates the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that our culture perpetuates anti-fatness – and examines the roots of thinness as a system of supremacy. She points us toward a world where we are all safer and freer. 

Plus, a heart-piercing voicemail from a concerned Pod Squader about their 11-year-old daughter's body image struggles.

For more information on why BMI is horseshit, check out Ep 10 OUR BODIES: Why are we at war with them and can we ever make peace?

About Aubrey:

Aubrey Gordon is an author, columnist, and cohost of the Maintenance Phase podcast. She is the author of the New York Times and Indie bestseller “You Just Need to Lose Weight” and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, and What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Vox, SELF, Health, Glamour and more. Aubrey is also the subject of the new documentary film YOUR FAT FRIEND, which explores her journey from anonymous blogger to bestselling author and activist.

TW: @yrfatfriend

IG: @yrfatfriend

Author and artist, Jenny Odell, discusses how to break from the attention economy long enough to feel fully alive in a culture obsessed with productivity. She shares stories of her encounters with nature, how to be creative instead of productive, how to be less useful in order to survive, and the real reason for art and rest. This is a deep dive about how to stay human in a world that wants us to become machines.

About Jenny: 

Jenny Odell is a multidisciplinary artist and the New York Times bestselling author of How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy and Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Sierra magazine, and other publications. She lives in Oakland, California.

TW: @the_jennitaur

IG: @jennitaur

Glennon, Abby, Amanda and the Pod Squad share their most brutiful and hilarious holiday stories.

Author and cultural observer, Roxane Gay, examines the landscape of the internet and our relationship with it. We discuss the line between constructive criticism and online toxicity; how to decide when to speak up and when to stay quiet; and how to stay human and allow redemption in an online world that demands perfection.

Plus, a breakdown of our shared unguilty pleasure: Naked Attraction.

About Roxane: 

Roxane Gay is the author of several books, including Ayiti, An Untamed State, New York Times bestsellers Bad Feminist and Hunger; and the national bestseller Difficult Women.

Her writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories, Best American Short Stories, Best Sex Writing, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. 

She also has a newsletter, “The Audacity” – and once had a podcast, The Roxane Gay Agenda.

Her latest book, Opinions, is available now.

TW: @rgay

IG: @roxanegay74

How do we bring our full selves into our relationships without fear of rejection? 

Today, Abby shares more about what’s been happening in her life since she’s stopped “bright siding” including powerful truth-telling she’s unleashed in business and her family of origin.

Glennon shares how Abby embracing her full emotions has led to deeper intimacy and connection, and a feeling of “un-loneliness” in their partnership – the opposite of what Abby feared might happen. 

Plus, we discuss how toxic positivity and polarized dynamics in relationships can lead to emotional disconnection and loneliness. 

For the first part of our conversation, check out 258. Abby Asks, “Why Can’t I Love Myself?”

Abby opens up about starting therapy and the work she’s been doing to unearth and express uncomfortable emotions like anger and sadness. She shares her long-held fear that if she feels and expresses her full self, people will leave her.

In a profound moment, Abby shares a deep longing to truly love herself. She explains that this love has been clouded by messages she’s received since childhood which have led to difficulty trusting others, equating anger with not being okay, and a feeling like something is “wrong” with her. 

For the episode Abby mentions with Suzanne Stabile, check out Fix Your Most Important Relationships with the Enneagram: Suzanne Stabile

Where does all our suffering come from and how can we free ourselves?

Pastor, author, and speaker, Nadia Bolz-Weber, discusses how she finally became healed and whole enough to choose romantic love from freedom instead of desperation. With her characteristic raw honesty, Nadia shares that the secret to her healing has been “honestly, a lot of pain.”

Plus, Nadia leads Abby to a heartbreaking, cathartic moment of clarity – and shares a blessing that she wrote for Abby and all queer people.

About Nadia:

Nadia Bolz-Weber is an ordained Lutheran Pastor; founder of House for All Sinners & Saints in Denver; host of The Confessional podcast; and author of three NYT bestselling memoirs: Pastrix, Accidental Saints, and SHAMELESS. Nadia writes and speaks about personal failings, recovery, grace, faith, and really whatever the hell else she wants to.

She always sits in the corner with the other weirdos, and she can be found a couple days a week inside the Denver women’s prison where she is a volunteer chaplain.

https://thecorners.substack.com/

IG: @sarcasticlutheran

Priya Parker is here to discuss what Glennon called “the most important thing in the world” – connection – and how to make our time with other people have more of it. She teaches us: 

• How – whether it’s a wedding or a retirement party – you can create new gathering rituals that forge truer, deeper relationships;

• Why the outcome of every gathering is decided before anyone steps in the room; and 

• Why so many of us hate parties – and what to do about it. 

For the The Art of Gathering online course giveaway go to priyaparker.com/hardthings

About Priya:

Priya Parker is a conflict facilitator, strategic advisor, international speaker, and acclaimed author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters and host of the podcast TOGETHER APART. She is the creator and host of The Art of Gathering digital course, about how to make meaning with and for our people. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two children.

TW: @priyaparker

IG: @priyaparker

Glennon tells three stories that reveal how recovery from anorexia has changed who she is and how she experiences the world.

Together in G’s home, recording for the first time, Abby and Amanda respond with their reflections and the impacts that G’s recovery work has had on the entire family.

In this special episode, Glennon, Abby, and Amanda sit down with icon Dolly Parton for a heartfelt conversation about how to start something new at 77, how she mothers the world, and how she broke her own heart when Elvis asked to record her hit song. 

Plus, the advice Dolly would give to Glennon and Abby’s daughter, Tish, as she enters the music business. 

About Dolly: 

Dolly Parton is the most honored and revered female country singer-songwriter of all time and was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Achieving 27 RIAA-certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach #1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. Parton became the first country artist honored as Grammy MusiCares Person of the Year.

She has 48 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 50+ years. On October 17th she is releasing her second coffee table book in a trilogy called “Behind The Seams: My Life in Rhinestones” and on November 17th her highly anticipated 30-song rock album, “Rockstar.”

To date, Parton has donated over 213 million books to children around the world with her Imagination Library. Her children's book, Coat of Many Colors, was dedicated to the Library of Congress to honor the Imagination Library's 100 millionth book donation. 

TW: @DollyParton

IG: @dollyparton